At first, film was a waking dream, the gift of appearance delivered to huddled masses sitting in the dark. Then movies began transforming our society and our perception of the world. Now, although still richly entertaining, do they still have the same power? What have they done to our lives? In The Big ScreenDavid Thomson, one of film's greatest living experts, tells the enthralling story of the movies, and how they have shaped us.

Thomson takes us around the globe, through time, and across many media to tell the complex, gripping, paradoxical story of the movies. He tracks the ways in which we were initially enchanted by this mesmerizing imitation of life and let movies - the stories, the stars, the look -show us how to live. But at the same time movies, offering a seductive escape from the everyday reality and its responsibilities, have made it possible for us to evade life altogether. The entranced audience has become a model for powerless citizens trying to pursue happiness by sitting quietly in a dark room.

Does the big screen take us out into the world, or merely mesmerize us? That is Thomson's question in this great adventure of a book. This passionate feat of storytelling is vital to anyone trying to make sense of the age of screens - the age that, more than ever, we are living in.